And the party continues
by Snoot37
Summary: Pepper has been very good at keeping Tony at a distance and not giving in to his advances. But what if Tony found a crack in her armour? Small story meant to be a prequel to another longer one.
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really not sure when I want this story to take place. It's sort of a minor prequel that takes place to a much longer story still in the works, and that story takes place after IM1, and possibly around the events of IM2, but assumes Tony isn't dying from palladium poisoning. At best, let's treat these as a sort of alternate universe from the movieverse.

**And the party continues**

It was 1am and the party guests were finally starting to leave. Pepper had given the DJ to start playing softer music two hours ago and had finally given the final call a half hour ago. Guests started trickling out the door and Pepper was there seeing them out, giving departing handshakes to all the guests, thanking them for coming. It was a job Tony was supposed to be doing. But he was kicked back on the couch, fading in and out of consciousness. He had had a lot to drink, including *3* Jaeger bombs, which would have killed an ordinary man, but thankfully had kept his behaviour under control this time. She knew he was going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow, though. He had flirted shamelessly with quite a few women all night, but for some reason, seemed not to have scored overnight companionship. It was a little odd, but Pepper tried not to dwell on it. In fact, she was secretly pleased. Ever since he came back from being held hostage in Afghanistan, he was noticeably a different man. He didn't party as much, and she couldn't remember the last time he had hooked up with some stranger for sex. She had gotten pretty good at denying her own feelings for him over the years, managing to keep them in the back of her mind when she was around him. However, it wasn't so easy when she had to deal with the girl the next morning, especially after she had usually spent the night before in her own bed, sleepless, staring up at the ceiling, imagining herself with Tony. It was even worse if they copped an attitude with her the next morning. She wasn't above pulling a runner thread out of a $5,000 beaded dress to ensure the whole thing fell into pieces as soon as it came out of the dry cleaning bag.

She wondered just what had happened to Tony those three months that had changed him so completely. She knew he was a textbook narcissist, and that usually came from having parents who either doted on you or ignored you. Unfortunately for Tony, his parents had done both: doted on him when it came time to show him off as a prodigy to the world, and ignored him the rest of the time. She knew his philandering was mostly due to a lack of emotional closeness to anyone and a desperate need for physical intimacy. The thing was, though, Tony had never figured out that the shallow one night stands he hunted after weren't even close to the real thing, which could be so much better. He was too afraid to let anyone in. He had always flirted with her, and she had found it irritating at first, and amusing later on. She knew he felt affection for her, for he showed it in subtle ways. But she just wasn't sure whether or not he was ready for the kind of relationship she needed from any man she intended to hook up with. He had not been mature enough, previously. And yet, as he became Iron Man, she had seen hints of maturity and a change of focus. He wasn't quite as self-centred anymore and she allowed herself to hope that he was finally pulling his head out of his backside.

But then, after nights like tonight, her hopes were usually dashed. She really wished he'd stop drowning his pain in alcohol. She didn't like the man he became when he drank. She knew he didn't like himself that way either. In fact, he had even offhandedly suggested they cancel this party. He didn't want a birthday party, didn't want to see all these people who he claimed to know but really didn't. He had known he would fall back into old patterns of behaviour. She's thinking now she probably should have listened to him, but Tony's parties weren't just social events for Hollywood and Los Angeles elite. They were a chance to forge business connections, seal deals and other lucrative opportunities and the board members made good use of these parties. She knew at least two board members had scored valuable deals for Stark Industries right before everyone had sung Happy Birthday to Tony. Now she's wondering if she should have just let him have his way, called off the party and left the board members to their own devices. Tony hadn't looked much like he was having fun at his own party, and the gifts the guests had left him, including her own, lay unopened on the counter. He wasn't at all interested in them.

Finally, the last person was out. She confirmed with Happy and his team that the house was clear, upstairs and down, and the grounds secure. The house was a wreck, but a cleaning crew would be coming in the morning. Scratch that, in a few hours. Bleary eyed, she surveyed the damage. Thankfully nothing major had been broken and they didn't seem to need to drain the pool this time to retrieve any furniture or because someone had puked in it again. Mostly it was just food and debris, nothing that couldn't keep for a few hours. She was exhausted and decided right then not to make the drive back to her apartment. She'd only spend a few hours in her bed, probably not sleeping anyway, only to have to get up and come back to supervise in a few hours. Better to just crash on one of the beds in the guest rooms and change into one of the outfits in the travel bag she always kept packed here in the hall closet in case Tony needed to jet off somewhere at a moment's notice.

After seeing Happy out, she closed the door behind him, and turned to head back to Tony in the living room. Seeing how out of it he was, she figured it was probably better if someone stayed with him anyway. She stopped in front of him.

"Hey, Tony," she said gently. "Come on, you need to get up to bed. Everyone's gone."

Tony groaned and opened his eyes. He rubbed them and looked around, seeing the house empty but a mess.

"Everyone's gone?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Finally," he sighed. "I thought they'd never leave."

She hung her head sadly. "I'm sorry Tony. I shouldn't have made you go through with the party. I know you didn't want to. At least some board members made good use of the time. They scored some good deals. But it's your birthday, you should do what you want."

Tony waved his hand dismissively. She wasn't sure what that gesture was in reply to, the board deals or her admission that she was wrong.

He looked up at her. "Are you staying?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I guess so. It's 1am. By the time I got back to my apartment and then need to get up to come here for the clean-up crew, I'd only get a couple of hours of rest. I'll crash in one of the spare rooms."

He nodded and looked down. She frowned. This was usually the part where he made a suggestive comment about her joining him in his bed. But he didn't. This new Tony was disconcerting, she didn't know what to expect from him.

They were silent for a moment, and then she said, "So did you have a good birthday?"

He shrugged. "Not really."

Her eyes dropped a bit and she felt a slight tug at her heart. "Why? Was it the party? You know we can always do something else for your birthday if you really want. I can get Captain Carl to fire up the yacht. Go down to Mexico for a few days? Maybe hit the beach? You enjoyed that last year and that was for no specific reason."

"No." Tony said it gently, quietly. "It's not what I want. Actually, I didn't get what I really wanted for my birthday."

"And what's that?" asked Pepper, wondering what on earth a billionaire could want that he couldn't have at a moment's notice.

Tony took a deep breath, and looked up at her. He looked indecisive, as if he were trying to make a decision, but then a wave of dizziness overcame him and he groaned and leaned back into the sofa. She took a step forward, with worry, but then he righted himself and closed his mouth. Apparently he wasn't going to tell her.

Pepper steeled herself for the next question she was about to ask him, because it had always brought on his trademark leer and a smartass comment when she did ask him. "Anything else you need me to do?"

But to her surprise, Tony didn't go his usual route. He looked thoughtful for a second, and then looked up at her, but without his trademark flirtatious smile. Instead, he was completely sincere. It threw her off balance. While she preferred this Tony to the playboy she had worked for, for a decade, she was still unsure of her footing with this new Tony. Her defences seemed pretty weak against his gaze now, no longer scoping for just sex, but was being honest and open with her instead.

"There's just one thing. There's only one thing I want, really want, for my birthday," he said, locking eyes with her.

"Tony," she warned. "We've been down this road before, you know what my answer always is…."

"No, no," he said, "Not THAT. Well I won't turn THAT down under any circumstances, of course. Not if you're offering. No, that's not what I was going to ask you."

"Then what?" she asked.

"Kiss me," he said simply.

"What?" she asked feeling the corners of her mouth fighting to turn upwards. He was joking, he had to be.

"I'm serious. Kiss me," he said. "And I don't mean a peck. I mean a serious one, like you mean it. One that lasts longer than 3 seconds. Make it a birthday kiss."

"Tony, you know that breeches about 5 different standards of professional ethics, don't you? Besides, I don't kiss someone if I don't mean it," she said.

"Well," he said slowly, "either this will be the first time you do. Or it *will* mean something and you'll do it anyway."

"Or," she said evenly, "I don't do it at all. How about that?"

He had been leaning forward, into her space, as he spoke. Now, he sat back, dejected, dropping his eyes and shrugged, trying to appear as if he didn't care, but the drop in his shoulders told her he did.

"Your choice," he said simply. "But for once, I didn't ask you for sex. I just asked for a kiss. I didn't want this party, I don't want what's on that table, really I'm not sure what I want. But I do know that this is the only thing I'm likely to get you to agree to. There's no harm in a simple kiss. We can laugh about it later."

"With you, it's never simple," she retorted.

"What are you afraid of? Falling desperately in love with me over a stupid kiss? Being unable to resist my overwhelming charms?" he asked in a joking tone.

"No," she said firmly.

_(yes)_

He stared at her, waiting, daring her.

Pepper's first reaction was to immediately refuse, to bid him good night as she always did in these circumstances, head upstairs and shower and go to sleep in the guest room the farthest away from his. She had gotten used to sleeping in that room when she stayed over, because it put enough distance between them so that in the event he had company over for the night, she wouldn't hear them. She wasn't sure she would be able to deal with that. But Pepper had had a few martinis of her own, and while she was far from drunk, her own inhibitions were down a bit. And he had turned down all the offers from female guests all night. She wondered why.

The way he was looking at her was so endearing, so unlike he usual look. Had he really changed? She never knew what made her make the choice to agree, after so many years of staying away from him. Maybe it was because she was tired of fighting, maybe it was because he had changed, or maybe it was because she simply wanted to. She moved to stand in front of him, and sat on the coffee table directly in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise.

"OK, Tony," she said. "One kiss. But only because I owe you one for making you host a party you didn't want on your birthday and I feel only very *slightly* guilty about that. Guilty enough for a single kiss, and nothing more. And if you ever tell anyone about this, I'm leaking your bank account information to Anonymous."

His eyes narrowed but in mock irritation, "That's a bit harsh, Pepper. But fine, no one will know, I promise."

"Fine," she said.

They stared at each other, knowing there was nothing more to say. They stared until it was a little comical. Neither wanted to make the first move. Since Tony had asked for it, she assumed he would move first. But he seemed as astounded as she was that this was actually going to happen. Or, like a deer in headlights, he was afraid to do anything that might make her change her mind.

When it seemed obvious he was waiting for her to move first, she sighed and scooted to the edge of the coffee table. He sat up and scooted to the edge of the sofa. They leaned in closer. Unable to take the tension with their eyes locked, she looked away briefly, then looked back long enough to reach up and take his head in her hands, gently tilting him to the side and leaning forward to press her lips against his. She moved slowly, sure he was going to laugh and pull back any second. Tony, his brain foggy with liquor, could hardly believe this was actually happening. Surely he must be dreaming.

Her lips brushed his lightly, then hesitated before pressing down a little more firmly but still lightly. Tony barely had time to register before he felt her pulling back, as if she was done with that light feather touch of a kiss.

_'Oh no you don't,'_ he thought, _'that's not a kiss. Not the one I was hoping for.'_

He reached up and took her head in his own hands and pulled her back in for a real kiss. He pulled her nearly off the coffee table entirely as he drew her to him. He exerted enough pressure on her mouth to encourage her to open hers. She felt herself give way to him, deepening the kiss and her breath caught in her chest as she fought for the right rhythm of breathing and kissing. His lips duelled against hers, making it clear that she wasn't getting away with just a simple, chaste kiss. He wanted the real thing from her.

Her eyes slid closed as she surrendered to the sensation. It had been a long time for her, and Tony was making her heady. Her vision swam when she opened her eyes, so she kept them closed, leaning in to him. His scent flooded her nostrils, and she could feel him warm against her. She tried to fight back the rising desire in her chest, telling herself she was just giving him what he wanted, just because it was his birthday, and because he hadn't asked for anything more. Plus she had wanted to see what it was like. Well, now she knew what it was like. It was amazing. It was astronomical. She tried to tell herself it was just a kiss, it didn't mean anything, not to her and certainly not to him. But even as she formed the thought, she knew it was a lie. She had built many walls between them over the years, seemingly impregnable. Tony had found a way in, with asking for just a kiss, knowing that if she agreed, she would discover how paper thin those walls really were.

He had gambled, and it was paying off. She was responding. From his point of view, he was experiencing something he had never really felt before. He had harboured an affection for her for years that had only deepened when he came back from captivity. She had been all he thought about in that cave, and she had been a grounding point for him when he came home. He felt such strong emotions towards her that they scared him, especially when he recognized he just might be falling in love with her.

She was soft and feminine, but strong too. Her floral shampoo mingled with her own scent and embedded a permanent memory of her in his mind as he inhaled the scent from her hair. Her body fit perfectly in his arms as they left her head, assured she wouldn't pull away, and wrapped themselves around her back. She was off-centre and it was causing her some discomfort leaning so far forward. Taking a firm hold on her, he pulled her off the table and onto the couch with him, pulling her over to straddle him.

Briefly, she formed the thought that now was the time to pull away. This was a line being crossed, one she hadn't agreed to, one she was afraid of. But damnit, she wanted him. She wanted to keep kissing him. She wanted more. And she knew Tony would have known this. All he had to do was get her to kiss him, and the rest would take care of itself.

_'Damn you, Tony Stark,'_ she thought with a little anger, some amusement and a little fear. _'So you found a way past me. I should probably congratulate you, but I hate losing.'_

She settled herself more comfortably on top of him, straddling his lap, leaning harder into the kiss that had never broken. His hands rubbed up and down her back as hers left his head and wrapped around his back. His tongue pushed against her lips, seeking entrance. She hesitated at first, and then let him in. He stroked her tongue with his own, exploring her mouth as she returned the favour. The kiss became more insistent, less formal and with far less decorum. Real passion burst forth and drove them, and both felt their breathing speed up. Pepper felt her walls come crumbling down, and her inhibitions forced down, especially when she felt the hard lump in his groin pressing against her. Fire was pooling in her own belly, and she was having a hard time ignoring it. She knew Tony could sense it, that he turned her on. She could already feel what she was doing to him.

She pressed down on him, and he groaned slightly and kissed her even harder. She whimpered in response. Tony could feel Pepper in his arms slowly surrendering. He had not known if she would, but he had figured he had nothing to lose. Either she didn't and he got a great kiss out of it, or she did and the doors opened up for other possibilities. He knew the door had not just opened, it had been kicked open.

He moved slowly, twisting gently to roll her backwards onto the couch. She gasped in surprise but never broke the kiss. He settled easily on top of her. They fit perfectly. He knew they would fit in other ways too, if she would just let him. But he didn't want her just for sex. He knew it would never just be sex with her. He wanted her because he was tired of "just sex" with strangers. He wanted to feel something for the person he was with. And he didn't want anyone but her. He had thought seriously about scoring some random sex from the party. He had had many offers, and had even been on the way towards the stairs with one. But he knew he wasn't truly interested and had allowed himself to be distracted away. He wanted Pepper, and his plan had worked. If she wanted him too, then the possibilities could be endless.

He pushed himself against her and she finally broke the kiss to whimper into his shoulder. He fought for control at the sensation. This was going to be good, but it had to be her call.

She let her head fall back and they locked eyes. His were cloudy, but resolved. Hers were dazed, but hesitant.

"You're bastard, you know that?" she asked in a half joking, half serious tone.

He smiled. "Yes I know. But with you I'm not trying to be."

He leaned down and kissed her again. His pants were now beyond uncomfortable and she was quickly losing her own battle. He broke away.

"Thanks for the kiss, Pep," he said with a grin. "Of course, we could continue. But I know you'll say no."

"Don't be so sure," she said. "I'm just worried about tomorrow. What happens tomorrow? Should I just carve the notch in your bedpost myself?"

He winced. "No, Pep. Not ever. You're not a notch. You could never be."

She said," I wish I could believe that."

"Give me a chance," he pleaded. "Just let me try to be a decent guy for a change."

Pepper turned her head away for a moment. Then she looked up at him and said, "I can give you a chance, but you only get one. Are you sure you're ready to take it?"

Tony nodded. He was as sure as 3 Jaeger bombs could let him be at 1am, but it's not like these were new thoughts to either of them. After looking into each other's eyes for a minute or two, Pepper breathed out and nodded. He dipped down to kiss her again, pulling her leg up around his hip.

"So is that a yes, Ms. Potts?" he asked playfully.

"Yes," she said, and kissed him back.

THE END…for now.


	2. Chapter 2

Folks, my friend who wrote this story says thanks so much for all the feedback! The story continues in "My Best Friend's Baby" here:

s/9341709/1/My-Best-Friend-s-Baby

Enjoy!


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